Article sizers



March 14, 1961 L. L. FRY

ARTICLE SIZERS Filed March 2. 1959 INV ENTOR.

it,... rIIGv United States Patent() ARTICLE SIZERS Lyle L. Fry, Gering,N ehr., assignor to Lockwood Graders Inc., Gering, Nebr., a corporationof Nebraska Filed Mar. 2, 1959, Sel'. No. 796,323

3 Claims. (Cl. 209-106) This invention relates to an article sizer orgrader of the type wherein articles are graded according to size by`allowing them to drop between traveling sizing rollers of predeterminedspacing, and more particularly to a sweep attachment for an articlesizer of this type. Graders or sizers of this type operatesatisfactorily upon relatively spherical articles such as oranges,apples, round potatoes, etc. upon relatively long articles such as longpotatoes and long vegetables such as carrots and the like for the reasonAthat the long articles frequently bridge themselves across '-two ormore rollers due to their lengths so that they do fnot drop between therollers in accordance with their ,proper diameter or widthclassification.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a :sweep attachmentfor any of the conventional roller type graders or sizers which willoperate automatically to 'position articles of greater length thanthickness ina position parallel to the axes of the sizing rollers sothat the articles will be properly graded and classified in laccordancewith their transverse widths regardless of their lengths.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of theinvention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and eiciency.These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed .description ofthe invention, reference is hadto the accompanying drawingwhich forms a part hereof. Like numeralsrefer to like parts 'in all views of the drawing and throughout thedescription.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of the feed extremity of aconventional roller sizer or grader ilustrating the invention in placethereon;

Fig. 2 is -a fragmentary side view of that portion of the sizerillustrated in Fig. 1 showing the invention in place; and

Fig. 3 is a detail view of a sweep finger as employed on the attachment.

In the drawing, a sizer of the type, wherein the distance between thesizing rollers gradually increases as they travel away from the feedextremity so that the smaller sizes will drop between the rollersadjacent the feed extremity and the larger sizes will successively dropas the spacing of the rollers increases. Such a sizer is illustrated inprior Patents No. 1,874,096; 2,411,154; and 2,411,274. The invention,however, is not limited to this particular type of variable sizer butwill be found useful upon any sizer employing a traveling series ofparallel spaced-apart sizing elements.

For the purpose of illustration, a conventional sizer is illustratedcomprising two side frame members between which parallel spaced-apartsizing rollers 11 travel in the direction of the arrow A in Fig. 1. Thespacing between the rollers gradually increases as they travel, duetoany of the well known mechanisms such as those illustrated in the saidprior patents. The sizer rollers are They do not operate accuratelyhowever, I

2,974,794 Patented Mal?, mi

mounted upon roller chains which travel about roller chain sprocketshafts 36. The articles to be graded are fed onto the traveling sizingrollers 11 in any desired manner such as through the medium of aninclined feed chute 12 and are collected according to size betweenpartition members 13 upon a tranversely extending conveyor belt or chute14 as is customary with such sizers or graders.

The above described mechanism is conventional with many types of rollergraders or sizers. This invention relates to an attachment for a sizerof the type described and is designed to cause long articles such aslong potatoes, carrots and the like to align themselves longitudinallyparallel to the axes of the sizing rollers 11 so that they may beproperly graded according to their transverse diameter or width.

Brieily, the attachment comprises an endless sweep chain 15 arranged totravel in a horizontal plane above the sizing rollers 11 at an acuateangle to the axes'of the rollers. The sweep chain 15 is provided withllexible iingers 16 which extend downwardly to a plane immediately abovethe rollers and which are arranged to travel longitudinally of therollers as indicated by the arrow B as the latter travel in thedirection of the arrow A of Fig. 1. The movement of the sweep chain -15is synchronized with the movement of the rollers so that each of thelingers 16 will be positioned above a roller and will remain above thatroller and travel substantially the entire length thereof as the rollertravels along its conventional path.

The sweep chain 16 may be supported in any suitable manner and may bedriven from and synchronized with the movement of the sizer rollers inany suitable, mechanical manner. As illustrated, two cross beams 17 aresupported above the sizer lrollers and parallel thereto upon angle posts18 which are bolted to the side members 10 by means of suitableattachment bolts 19 and extend upwardly therefrom.

Two, relatively long bearing angles 20 extend between and are supportedabove and below the cross beams 17 upon vertical frame members 21 whichare welded or otherwise secured to the cross beam 17. A pair ofrelatively short bearing angles 22 extend between and are similarlysupported upon frame members 23 above and `below the cross beams 17. Therelatively long bearing angles are positioned at right angles to thecross beams 17 and adjacent one of the side members 10 of the sizer andthe relatively short bearing angles 22 are similarly positioned adjacentto and parallel with the other side member 10.

An idler sprocket shaft 24 is vertically and rotatably mounted insuitable shaft bearings 25 on the forward extremities of the twolongbearing angles 20. A vertical drive sprocket shaft 26 is similarlymounted in suitable bearings 27 on the forward extremities of the twobearing angles 2t?, and a third shaft which will be herein designated asthe apex idler sprocket shaft 28 is vertically mounted in suitablebearings 29 on the mid-portions of the two shorter bearing angles 22.All of the shafts are provided with suitable thrust bearings 30 whichprevent vertical movement thereof, and each of the shafts is providedwith a chain sprocket 31 at its lower extremity.

The chain sprockets 31 lie in a common horizontal plane above the planeof the rollers 11 and the endless sweep chain 15 is trained around thesethree sprockets, as shown in Fig. 1. The chain 15 may be driven in anydesired manner from the conventional operating mechanism of the sizer.

As illustrated, the sweep chain is driven through the medium of a bevelgear set 32 from a drive shaft 33 mounted in bearings 34 on a bracketplate 35 supported 3 from one of the cross beams 17. The drive shaft 33is driven from a suitable shaft on the grader such as from one of theroller chain sprocket shafts 36 through the medium 'of a suitable'power`transmission Vchain 37;

Thus, it can be seen that whenever the sizerrollers 11 travel in thedirection of the arrow A, the exible fingers 16 will travel'lengthwisealong the sizer rollers 1:1V from the sprocket drive shaft26 toward theapex idler -shaft28 each finger remaining over its individual roller.

The fingers will then return -along the rollers yfrom the apex idlershaft 28 to the first idler shaft 24 thence will return to the driveshaft 26. The flexible iingers 16 will engage long articles entering onthe rollers as indicated at C and sweep them to a positionlongitudinally of and betweenl the rollers :as indicated at D so thatthey will fall between the rollers when the preset spacing is reached.The fingers may be'formedV in any desired manner. One manner isillustrated in Fig. 3

'and comprises a short length of relatively stii hose,

.slipped over studs 39 which project downwardly from link plates 40welded or otherwise secured beneath links of the chain 15. The hoselengths may be clamped to the studs 39 by means of suitable hose clamps41.

While a specic form of the improvement has been ldescribed andillustrated herein, it is to be understood vward said rollers; and meansfor driving said chain to cause said sweeping elements to movelongitudinally of said traveling sizing rollers to sweep elongatedarticles into parallel relation with said rollers, said sweep chainbeing positioned diagonally of the path of travel of said rollers andthe means for driving being synchronized with the traveling movement ofsaid rollers so that the sweeping elements will travel with said rollersas they move longitudinally thereof.

2. A sweep attachment for a sizer of the type having elongated, spaced,horizontal, sizing rollers traveling horizontally at right angles totheir lengths comprising: a supporting frame; means supporting saidframe across said sizer above said rollers; rotatable elements supportedin said frame, adjacent the sides of said sizer so as` to rotate aboutvertical axes;.an endless flexible element trained around said rotatableelements so as to extend horizontally across said sizer above saidsizing rollers; sweeping elements carried by said endless exible elementand extending downwardly toward said rollers; and means for driving saidilexible element to cause the sweeping elements to move transversely ofthe direction of travel of said sizing rollers to sweep elongatedarticles being sized lengthwise of said rollers as they travel, therebeing three of said rotatable elements, two being positioned adjacentone side of said sizer and one positioned adjacent the other sidethereof so as to support said exible element in a horizontal triangularpath to cause said sweeping elements to travel diagonally of the path oftravel of said sizing rollers, said means for driving the llexibleelement being synchronized with the speed of travel of said sizing.rollers so. that the sweeping elements` will simultaneously travel withand longitudinally of' said rollers.

3. A sweep attachment for a sizer of the type having spaced, horizontal,sizing rollers traveling horizontally at right angles to their lengthscomprising: a supporting frame; means supporting said frame across saidsizer above said rollers; a. vertical. sprocket shaft .journalled insaid frame adjacent one side of said sizer; two vertical sprocket shaftsjournalled in said frame adjacent the other Vside of said sizerforwardly and rearwardly7 respectively of'said first sprocket shaft; achain sprocket mounted on the lower extremity of each shaft; an endlesssweep chain trained about said three sprockets in a horizontal planeabove said rollers; sweep lingers mounted on said chain and extendingdownwardly from said chain toward said rollers.; and means for drivingsaid chain to cause said lingers to move transversely of the path oftravel of 'said rollers, said chain extending across the rollersdiagonally to the lengths of the latter and the means for driving saidchain being synchronized with the travel speed of said rollers so thateach liinger will remain substantially over a roller during itstransverse travel.

References Citedy in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS885,881 Steckel Apr. 28, 1908 1,369,377 Benson Feb. 22, 1921 1,381,240Pope June 14, 1921 2,661,501 Riddell Mar. 6, 1928

